modulation

Today’s song is the 1976 ABBA song When I Kissed The Teacher. Often listed as one of Benny Andersson’s favourite ABBA songs, this song was the opening track on the Arrival album. It’s perhaps not the best-known of all the ABBA songs I’ve played so far, but I hope you enjoy my version.

A bit of a different song today: it’s ABBA’s Lay All Your Love On Me, but not quite in the 80s disco style that you may be used to. Ranked as one of the greatest dance songs of all time by Slant Magazine, this track made if to #7 in the UK charts, and was curiously released only as a 12″ single. I’m sure I’ve still got this rare 12″ single somewhere!

Today’s song is an 80s classic which featured in the Karate Kid Part II in 1986. It was recorded by Peter Cetera shortly after he left the band Chicago to pursue a solo career. Cetera originally wrote the song for the end titles of Rocky IV but it was not selected for this and instead found its way into the second film in the Karate Kid series.

This song is dedicated to my wife Catriona who celebrates her birthday today who always sings along when she hears this song!

With Bang-A-Boomerang I’m “returning” to ABBA today. It was recorded in 1974 for the ABBA album, but was then selected as a potential song for the 1975 Melodifestivalen in which the song representing Sweden in Eurovision is chosen. Having won the contest in 1974, ABBA did not want to take part, so they gave the song to another band managed by their producers Polar Music, Svenne & Lotta. The song was placed 3rd in the Melodifestivalen, went on to become a hit for Svenne & Lotta.

It’s time for another Billy Joel song: today I’m playing This Night, a doo-wop classic from 1984 featuring the melody from Beethoven’s Pathétique Sonata. Indeed, “L.V. Beethoven” is credited as one of the song’s writers on the album notes. I hope you enjoy this song!

Today I’m playing another piece from the Misa Campesina, the Kyrie. Like the other parts of the Misa Campesina, this song combines the normal parts of the mass with ideas of liberation theology which can be seen from the lyrics:

I hope you enjoy another piece from the Misa Campesina. Here are two other versions of this song: a more traditional one and a pop version which was the version I first heard. Both are quite different from my piano version!

Yesterday was the bicentenary of the battle of Waterloo and there have been many remembrance services and reenactments over the past few days. While I don’t want to trivialise the serious nature of these services, the reports of this bicentenary did make me think about another well-known Waterloo, so that’s the song I’ve chosen to play today.

Described as the quintessential Eurovision song by musicologist Dr Harry Witchel from the University of Bristol, Waterloo was ABBA’s winning 1974 Eurovision entry. The song tells the story of a girl who is about to surrender to love, just as Napoleon did at Waterloo. ABBA’s performance at Eurovision was completely novel: audiences were not used to flashy costumes and choreography, and until the early 70s all countries had to sing in one of their national languages. Waterloo broke the mould in many ways, a mould which has continued to be broken ever since! Given the more poignant nature of yesterday’s bicentenary I’ve decided to make my version of Waterloo a bit different from the original. I hope you enjoy it.

The cheese alert is still in force. Here’s another song we talked about (and sang) last Saturday night, after a discussion about the organ playing of Klaus Wunderlich! Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep was first recorded in 1971 by its composer Lally Stott, but then made famous later that year by Scottish band Middle of the Road. Believe it or not, it is one of fewer than 40 singles to have sold more than 10 million physical copies worldwide, though few would admit to owning it! I hope you enjoy this cheesy throwback to the 70s.

Yesterday I had one of my wisdom teeth removed and this song came to mind as the circular saw approached my mouth… Dentist! is from the 1982 Alan Menken and Howard Ashman musical, Little Shop of Horrors. It took me back to when we produced Little Shop of Horrors when I was teaching at Mearns Castle. I think our plant is probably still doing the rounds of other schools! Here’s a clip of the brilliant Steve Martin playing the sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello in the movie version of the show.